


A Walk to Remember

by Queenbee3480



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27591710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queenbee3480/pseuds/Queenbee3480
Summary: “What the hell was that about?” demanded Emma.Zelena rolled her eyes. “Never mind that, Savior. We need to find her.”The argument died as she considered the look on Regina’s face before she disappeared. “You don’t think she’ll….” The rest of the sentence withered away on her tongue as the possibilities of an upset Regina alone with her thoughts assailed her mind. “Shit. We do need to find her.”
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 129





	A Walk to Remember

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Instead of hugging Emma after she announced she was going to be married, Regina's feelings took control of her and made her disappear. Emma and Zelena try to look for her, ending up with a lot of big sister talk from Zelena. Only when they found Regina did Emma realize her true feelings.

“Hook proposed.”

The words hit like a ton of bricks.

Regina, being Regina, knew what was expected of her. She attempted to force her feet to move towards her friend but found them glued to the floor.

Noting Emma and Zelena’s faces as they gazed at her with concern, she once again commanded herself to move. This time, she took a tentative step forward, her brain forming the words she knew had to say.

_‘I’m happy for you Emma. Really, I am.”_

She winced inwardly. Even inside her own head, the words sounded unconvincing. Pathetic even. She could do better, _would_ do better, because Emma deserved it.

Her brain scrambled for cover, looking for a way to make Emma believe that she could possibly be happy about this. All she could hear inside her head, though, were the words that made the whole world stand still.

_Hook proposed._

She forced a smile on her face and took another step forward.

_Hook proposed._

Her magic responded when her mind would no longer cooperate. It was comforting to know that even when all common sense betrayed her, her magic would still protect her. Without giving any thought to what she was doing or where she was going, she disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.

\---------------------------------------------

“What the hell was that about?” demanded Emma.

Zelena rolled her eyes. “Never mind that, Savior. We need to find her.”

The argument died as she considered the look on Regina’s face before she disappeared. “You don’t think she’ll….” The rest of the sentence shriveled up on her tongue as the possibilities of an upset Regina alone with her thoughts assailed her mind. “Shit. We do need to find her.”

They checked the vault first. Emma was certain that they would find her there, but the vault was empty. Somehow, this scared Emma more than the disappearance did. Regina was supposed to be predictable and this was where she was supposed to go when she wanted to be alone. Emma had intruded on her there enough times to know that was true, so why was she suddenly behaving so differently?

What had changed?

They left the vault and walked in silence for a bit before Emma spoke. “Should we split up, do you think?”

“Is that what _you_ want to do?” asked Zelena.

“It’s probably our best move. We can cover more ground that way. I can get my parents to help search too.” The idea was exceptionally unappealing, though, and Emma could see Zelena didn’t like it either.

“Let’s not split up just yet,” she suggested. “I don’t think Regina is in any immediate danger and I don’t think she would appreciate it if one of your parents pushed their way into her space right now.”

“She wouldn’t appreciate it if we did either,” Emma pointed out.

“True. But she doesn’t get a say about that.” Zelena’s voice sounded matter of fact, cheerful almost. “Where to next, Savior?”

Emma considered it. “She went to Granny’s after Robin left,” she said. “Maybe she went for a drink?”

Zelena really didn’t think so, but she was not going to be the one to drive this train. The Savior _was_ going to understand her sister before she was done with her. How the woman could be so clueless about the feelings of her supposed best friend was beyond her.

“What do you think Regina is so upset about, anyway?” asked Emma.

“I don’t know, Sheriff. You’ve known her far longer than I have. What do you think has her so upset?”

“Honestly, Zelena, she hasn’t been herself since Robin died.”

“Really?” asked Zelena. “How’s that?”

“We all expected her to fall apart.” The conversation died down as Emma remembered how she trailed after the Queen during the first few weeks after Robin’s death. She had been so sure that Regina would revert to type, so certain that they were about to face the wrath of a devastated Evil Queen hell bent on making everyone suffer until they felt the same amount of pain she did.

“She didn’t?”

This was interesting. Regina _had_ fallen apart in the moments after Hades killed Robin, Zelena had seen it. But during the few weeks they had lived together afterwards, she had only seen her sister project strength. At the time, Zelena had assumed she had leaned on other people for support, hiding her feelings at home. After all, the two women were practically strangers to one another even if they were tied by blood and the curse of a lifetime of suffering gifted to them by their mother.

Emma shook her head. “One day we’re burying Robin and then it seemed like the next day we were chasing Henry down in New York. Then of course, there was that whole nonsense with the Evil Queen.”

A quick check through Granny’s assured them that Regina was not there. Emma suggested they try her office next and the walk resumed.

“What nonsense?”

“Huh?”

“You were talking about some nonsense with the Evil Queen,” Zelena said patiently.

“Oh. Yeah, I was talking about ripping the Evil Queen from inside of Regina’s head. That’s got to be one of the top 5 dumbest ideas in the history of this town.”

That statement was certainly up for debate, but it was a discussion for another day. “Wasn’t it _your_ idea, Emma?”

Emma shook her head. “I went along with it, because Regina seemed so excited about it, but no. The idea was Snow’s. I love my mother, but some of her ideas are pretty out there.”

“She did hire _me_ as her Nanny,” Zelena agreed. “Why was it such a bad idea?”

“Because she was perfect the way she was,” Emma insisted.

“Did you tell her that?”

“No. Why, do you think I should have?”

Zelena was beginning to get a migraine. This girl….

“Savior. She was grieving, in pain, and talking about physically cutting out an entire part of her personality and destroying it. Do you think it would have helped in that moment to hear that her best friend thought she was perfect the way she was?”

Emma did not respond. A few blocks from Granny’s, she stopped suddenly.

“What is it?”

“This is where it happened,” Emma explained. “This is where I became the Dark One.”

“Regina told me about that. What made you do it?”

She wasn’t sure. She wanted to be able to say that day was forever burned in her memory, but that wasn’t really true. The truth was that when she saw Regina being overtaken by the darkness, instinct had taken over and the rest of that day was something of a blur. She had just reacted, setting in motion a chain of events that would eventually lead to a trip to the Underworld, of all places, and to Robin’s death. The walk continued with another quick look back.

“Instinct, I guess,” she shrugged. “Being overtaken by darkness seems like the worst possible fate.”

“But it was one you took upon yourself without a second thought,” she pointed out.

Emma nodded slowly. She had.

“Why?”

Again, Emma did not answer. Zelena wondered if this woman ever took any time to figure out what was going on inside her own head.

“Is it a fate worse than death?” she asked.

“Much, much worse. I knew Regina would rather die than have to battle her dark side again.”

Zelena stopped walking and stared at her curiously. “So then, it isn’t a fate you would subject someone that you love to?”

“Of course not! How could you ask me that?”

The Savior was lucky that Regina had been such a good influence on her sister, because Zelena would have traded half her wardrobe for the chance to smack the girl upside the head right about now. Instead, she waited for Emma to catch up.

The realization dawned suddenly.

“It’s what I did to Hook.”

_There it was._

They were outside of City Hall now, but Emma wasn’t going inside.

“Why did I do that?” she wondered.

“I thought it was because you couldn’t live without Hook. That’s what you said, remember?”

It was what she had said, but it didn’t ring true now that she was comparing it to the overwhelming panic she had felt watching Regina get lost in the darkness. She shook her head slowly.

“Maybe you didn’t want to be responsible for his death,” Zelena suggested. “Although you certainly didn’t have a problem being responsible for mine.”

She grinned sheepishly. “Yeah. Sorry about that. I wasn’t….myself at the time.”

Zelena snorted. “That’s what they tell me.”

Though Zelena knew perfectly well that Regina would not be in her office, she indulged Emma in a search around City Hall. After about 15 minutes, she had had enough.

“Ok, Savior, listen up. I don’t like you, that’s not a secret.”

“I know.”

She continued as though Emma had not spoken. “However, I do love my sister, although I am not sure why right at this very moment. So I’m going to do you a favor and clue you in here.”

Emma’s brow furrowed as she listened. Clue her in about what?

“Speaking as someone who has watched the two of you do this dance since I got to this town, you need to start asking yourself some questions. Who do you turn to when things get bad around here? Where do you go when you need a break from it all? Why didn’t you tell my sister when Hook first proposed?”

The questions hit her hard and fast.

“Regina will absolutely kill me for this, but at this point that sounds less painful than watching the pair of you keep up this ridiculous charade. She is in love with you. Has been for as long as I can remember."

Emma’s mouth dropped open.

“There. Now you know. The only question left is what you are going to do about it.”

The words themselves made no sense, but the conviction in Zelena’s voice was undeniable. She froze, trying to give her brain a chance to catch up.

“So now, ask yourself where _you_ would go if my sister invited you to her home one day and you showed up and found her with a diamond ring on her finger. Then go find her and fix this. And don’t come back until you do.” With that, Zelena waved her arm and disappeared.

\--------------------------------------------

The place that Regina’s magic had taken her to was the last place she would have picked if she had any control over it. She was about to transport herself back home or to her vault when she realized that if she would never have guessed this place, then likely no one else would either. Emma would be looking for her, the same as she would be looking if Emma had suddenly disappeared. This place, while distasteful, was safe.

“The mines? Really, Regina?”

Or maybe it wasn’t.

“How did you know?”

“It wasn’t easy, but then I stopped to think about it. We have a long history together, you and me.”

She nodded but didn’t turn around.

“Lots of places you could have been,” she continued. “The town line where you saved me and Henry from Pan’s curse. The well where you absorbed the death curse to save me and Snow. Your house, where we first met and it all began.”

“Emma,” she began. She stopped speaking when she realized she didn’t know what to say.

“Turn around,” Emma ordered.

Every instinct in her body was screaming at her not to comply, but apparently refusing a request from Emma Swan was not something she was capable of.

“This is the place we first performed magic together, remember?” It was also the first place she had seen Regina as someone other than the Evil Queen her parents and son all insisted she was.

_Everyone looks at me as the Evil Queen. Including my son. Let me die as Regina._

It wasn’t strictly true, but she let it go.

“Emma, I’m…I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

She shook her head in frustration. “For disappearing. I really am happy for you.” She gestured towards Emma’s hand.

Emma followed her gaze to her ring finger and quickly put her hand in her pocket. “For the record, Regina, I would much rather you disappear than lie to me.”

“I’m not lying,” she insisted.

“I just spent the afternoon searching for you all over this town with Zelena, you know.”

Suddenly, the air seemed thick and heavy as she considered the implications of that statement.

“She had some….interesting things to say,” Emma continued.

Shit.

“Is it true?”

She turned back around, shaking her head again. “Is what true, Emma?”

Emma took her by the shoulder, forcing her to face her again. “I think you know.”

She closed her eyes, too embarrassed to look at Emma.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“When exactly should I have done that, Emma?” she asked bitterly. “Right before I sent you and Henry away for good? While I was chasing down your pirate in the Underworld? Maybe right after I buried my soul mate? When would have been the right time to tell you that-“she stopped abruptly.

“That what?”

“Why are you doing this?” she whispered. “Why are you forcing me to say it when you’re standing in front of me with someone else’s ring on your finger? Can’t you see what you’re doing to me?”

Instantly contrite, Emma released Regina from her grip and took a step back.

“Can we please forget what my sister said to you? Just accept my good wishes and let’s just forget all of this ever happened.” The thought of sitting by in silence while Emma married the pirate was awful, but absolutely nothing in comparison to the thought of this being the end of their friendship.

“I don’t think I can do that, Regina.”

And there it was. Just like always, she would be left alone, holding the broken pieces of her heart in her hand.

“You’re right, you know. You came down here to be alone and if that is what you want, I will leave. But I have something to say first.”

Curiosity got the best of her and she looked up, waiting for the Savior to speak.

“Your sister did tell me that you were in love with me. Maybe she’s right or maybe she’s crazy, I don’t know.”

 _‘Maybe she’s both,’_ Regina’s mind filled in.

“You know what I realized while we were looking for you?”

Regina had no idea if that question was supposed to be answered, so she stayed quiet.

“They call me the Savior, but the truth is you’re the one that saves us over and over. You saved us from Pan, twice. You saved us from Zelena. You show up time and time again, putting your life on the line and somehow when it’s all done, we are all fine and another piece of you has been sacrificed.”

Emma laughed suddenly, causing Regina’s eyes to shoot up from the ground in confusion.

“Sorry. This isn’t funny. Except, maybe it is a little.”

“How do you figure?”

“It’s funny because it was Zelena that got us here, of all people. If I had told you Hook proposed to me and saw that it upset you, I would have assumed it was because you don’t like him.”

“I _don’t_ like him.”

“Oh, believe me, I know. But by the time I found you, you would have gotten yourself together and I would have accepted your congratulations because that would have been the easy thing to do and we would have continued to do this dance, probably for the rest of our lives.”

There wasn’t really any point in denying the truth of that.

“I’m not going to make you tell me you love me, Regina. That would be cruel, after everything you’ve been through. It’s my turn to put it all on the line.”

She removed her hand and took the ring off, putting it back in her pocket.

“I could stand here and make pretty speeches about why I feel the way I do, but you’re a lot better at that than I am, so instead I’ll just say this. I’m sorry I was an idiot and that it took so long for me to figure it out.”

“Figure it out?”

“Oh, now you’re trying to make _me_ say it. I see how it is,” she teased, and Regina couldn’t help but laugh.

“Fine. I’m sorry it took so long for me to figure out that I love you. Because I do, you know.”

She put a finger under Regina’s chin to tilt her face upwards and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “I’m in love with you, Regina Mills.”

The world stopped for a moment as Regina touched her lips in shock and Emma looked worried. “Please tell me Zelena wasn’t wrong.”

She snapped out of it. “She wasn’t. I love you, Emma.” This time, when she leaned forward, the kiss wasn’t quite as gentle. When they pulled away at last, Regina smiled.

“We should get my sister a thank you present,” she said.

“We should,” Emma agreed.

“Maybe a basket of apples?”

“Just make sure they’re green ones,” a new voice said. They turned around to find Zelena grinning at them.

“What?” she asked.

“How did you know where we were?”

Zelena rolled her eyes. “I’m a bit quicker than the Savior here. Did she fix things like I told her to?”

Emma and Regina looked at each other. “Never mind, I can see the hearts in your eyes. You two are disgusting.” She raised her hand to teleport herself out of the mines, but Regina caught it before she could.

“What have I told you about interfering in my life?” she asked.

“Lucky for you, not listening to reason runs in our family.”

“She could have not felt the same way, you know.”

“Please. Give me some credit.”

Regina shook her head. “I think you just enjoy embarrassing me,” she said.

“You know me so well, sis.”

Regina grinned and released her sister’s arm. “Thank you, Zelena,” she said.

“Happy to help. How about next time, you just listen to me instead of making me follow this one all around the town? She’s not the quickest study, you know.”

Regina planted a quick, affectionate kiss on Emma. “Oh, I know,” she said.

Zelena smirked at them, turning again to leave. “Savior, I believe it goes without saying that if you hurt my sister, I’ll-“

“Let me guess. You’ll destroy my happiness if it is the last thing you do?”

“No, idiot. I’ll kill you.”

She disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving the two of them behind.

“What now?” asked Regina.

“How about a walk?” Emma suggested, making Regina chuckle.

“I have a better idea,” she said. She lifted her arm to teleport them and this time there was no doubt about where they were headed.

Home.


End file.
